Unauthorized use of electronic media content, which includes signal theft or piracy, usually occurs when a business or individual uses the electronic media content without subscribing to the electronic media content provider, such as using an unauthorized receiver or a computer to access and steal the electronic media content. Unauthorized use of media or violation of terms of use is often accomplished when a customer, who at one time subscribed to a specific type of the service, uses the electronic media content for another unauthorized user. Others alter their receiver to continue to receive unauthorized electronic media content even after ending their subscription or use the electronic media content without lawful subscription or permit.
Using an electronic media content that exceeds viewers' licensing terms is also a prevalent form of unauthorized use of electronic media content. For instance, some businesses subscribe to electronic media content under personal or residential use but use the electronic media content commercially. Those businesses, entities or individuals unjustly benefit from the unauthorized use because they access, view, exhibit and/or transmit the media content to others without obtaining authorization from the content owner or paying the required licensing fees to the content provider. There are also individuals or businesses who applied to the use of an electronic media content for one particular license, location or device but actually use the electronic media content in multiple locations or devices without subscribing for that actual usage or license. This can happen when a subscriber uses a multi-receiver to receive the electronic media content at multiple locations; when the subscriber uses media mirroring device (i.e., Slingbox® or other place shifting devices or technology) to mirror the electronic media content and use the electronic media content at unauthorized location; or when the subscriber shares his media subscription account and/or password with others without authorization.
Electronic media content providers often cannot efficiently identify end users who illegally use their electronic media content because their system is incapable of detecting the unauthorized use (i.e., one way broadcasting system such as satellite TV, cable tv, terrestrial radio telephone, fiber optic) or because they do not have enough resources to hire sufficient auditors to investigate the unauthorized use. Even if their systems/methods have such functionality, the systems/methods still cannot differentiate whether the electronic media content is being used residentially or commercially. It is also expensive to hire private investigators, federal marshal, or auditors, often at hourly rate, and may take a long time for them to find out the individuals or businesses that exist throughout the country that are using electronic media content without authorization or to collect evidences of the unauthorized use. Other methods include using expensive and often inaccurate internet, GPS, or GIS predictive models or technology that does not positively identify unauthorized misuse but only tries to predict an increased possibility of unauthorized use of electronic media content for the content providers. Moreover, content providers are often concerned with the negative stigma, press, potential backlash and possibly legal consequences from trying to enforce their legal rights and prevent members of the public from unauthorized use of their electronic media content.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved method which not only allows electronic media content providers and owners to detect, verify and correct unauthorized use of their electronic media content more efficiently, but also allows them to lawfully collect evidence of the unauthorized use, thereby protecting their interests and business model and preventing unauthorized use of electronic media content.